Day 463

Nana and Papa took Fina out to her driving school session this morning. She's getting ready for the big test. While Fina was driving around, the two old people enjoyed breakfast at Urban Egg. Blokus has become a very favorite game for Lexi, and this morning others joined in as well, including Matt. That is, of course, after Lexi and Nana check all the outdoor plants, including her pumpkin from school, and do any necessary watering or trimming. It was horses day for Papa, during which was an interesting exercise. While one student led a horse around in a designated area, The remaining students captured the path they took from different perspectives on a whiteboard. One was up in a viewing stand (pictured) and one was at ground level some distance from the designated area. Very intriguing results. Another mega rehearsal day for Fina and AJ. Nana and Papa finished up Manifest. 

At the Ranch.

Day 462

AJ finally cashed in on his last outstanding birthday present - a trip to OverDrive Raceway! This included a stop at Josh and John's Ice Cream on the way home, too. "Best day ever!" (again). The Club was not doing take-out tonight (too busy?) so we gave Ted's Montana Grill a shot at take-out. Worked great, the food was as good as ever. And did I mention we saw Ted's bison herd in New Mexico? We did! Tracy got an interesting puzzle... When put together there's a QR code. Scan it and see if you win $1 million. Now we're talking! Lynn snapped a picture of the front yard plantings coming along, including Lexi's pumpkin plant, of course.

As a side note, I merged two blogs I had going. Look At It This Way now includes what was Jamie's Book Faves.

Day 461

This young buck was standing in the yard of Lynn's quilter friend. We were dropping off the "colorful little triangles" top to be quilted. The flower is our first major bloom from all the new landscaping last year. And the foster babe is adapting quickly to his arm casts. It was another "pool after school" day today, and we tried a new strategy. Papa took the older boys over early to snag a spot, then Matt showed up right after grabbing the three littles at school. It worked! Sound of Music rehearsals again tonight, this time interspersed for Fina with a friend's birthday happenings. They're down to run-throughs now as next week is tech week.

Day 460

Lynn and Matt took to putting the courtyard back into shape after having cleared it out for various proms and parties. One of the current foster kids got to be the first on the slide (upper right in the first pic). The three littles all came home from summer school with interesting creations, from musical instruments to launchable spacecraft. Our backyard neighbors have started a big project on their back patio. It was a tennis lesson day for Lexi; that half-hour always goes fast. The big news of the day, however, was the other foster child had his fingers straightened out (or as best they can do for now). The poor kid now has two huge lower-arm casts for the next 6-8 weeks.

Day 459

Oddball pics today, mostly Facebook pop-ups. More Sound of Music rehearsals this evening, including costume parade. And fishing for some of the kids! Nana and Papa discovered that the Atmosphere Gastropub's pink peppercorn caesar salad with pork belly is pretty darn good.

Fina helps Nana clean her chalkboard (circa 2012)

Which one is Jamie (2018) and which one is in the movie?

Costumes are coming along...

Day 458

Church in the morning, but not "as usual." Tracy, Fina, and Lynn were only teachers for preschool, not running the whole Kids show. Strolled in around 9am, left shortly after the class was over. Wow. Then straight to the pool for lunch and swimming, except for AJ and Fina who did all-day rehearsals again with a stop at Carl's Jr on the way. And the foster kids have swimming permission now! Sorry, no pics today.

Day 457

Pretty big day as it turned out. Lexi spent much of it on puzzles. Nana and Papa decided to check out a nursery that was supporting the Flying Horse Foundation. It's called Mixed Greens Nursery. Pretty cool operation just on the other side of 83 from us. They specialize in arranging plugs into pots, growing them up, and then selling them as ready-to-go live flower art. We got three hanging and two set-on-the-ground arrangements. It was a bit of a challenge to get them all in the car. AJ and Fina had all-day Sound of Music rehearsals. In the evening, Nana and Papa went to the Boot Barn Hall for a Dueling Pianos show. Had a great time! It's been a while since they were where it's at! And AJ got a bit of a haircut for his Sound of Music headshot - he wasn't pleased.

Ours!

"Why not this one!?"

View from Mixed Greens Nursery's
very long driveway on the way out.

Matt cooked ribs for dinner.

Boot Barn Hall

Can't remember the last time we ordered two drinks
at a time. Happy Hour was running out!

Not so thrilled with his headshot haircut.
We'll re-take the photo...